The Greek and Latin names Gawatia (first attested by Timaeus of Tauromenium in de 4f century BC) and Gawwia are uwtimatewy derived from a Cewtic ednic term or cwan Gaw(a)-to-.[3] The Gawwi of Gawwia Cewtica were reported to refer to demsewves as Cewtae by Caesar. Hewwenistic fowk etymowogy connected de name of de Gawatians (Γαλάται, Gawátai) to de supposedwy "miwk-white" skin (γάλα, gáwa "miwk") of de Gauws.[4] Modern researchers say it is rewated to Wewsh gawwu,[5] Cornish gawwoes,[6] "capacity, power",[7] dus meaning "powerfuw peopwe".

The EngwishGauw is from French Gauwe and is unrewated to Latin Gawwia, despite superficiaw simiwarity. The name Gauw is derived from de Owd Frankish*Wawhowant (via a Latinized form *Wawuwa)[8] witerawwy "Land of de Foreigners/Romans", in which *Wawho- is refwex of Proto-Germanic*wawhaz, "foreigner, Romanized person", an exonym appwied by Germanic speakers to Cewts and Latin-speaking peopwe indiscriminatewy, making it cognate wif de names Wawes and Wawwachia.[9] The Germanic w- is reguwarwy rendered as gu- / g- in French (cf. guerre "war", garder "ward"), and de historic diphdong au is de reguwar outcome of aw before a fowwowing consonant (cf. chevaw ~ chevaux). French Gauwe or Gauwwe cannot be derived from Latin Gawwia, since g wouwd become j before a (cf. gamba > jambe), and de diphdong au wouwd be unexpwained; de reguwar outcome of Latin Gawwia is Jaiwwe in French, which is found in severaw western pwacenames, such as La Jaiwwe-Yvon and Saint-Mars-wa-Jaiwwe.[10][11] Proto-Germanic *wawha is derived uwtimatewy from de name of de Vowcae,[12]

Awso unrewated in spite of superficiaw simiwarity is de name Gaew.[13] The Irish word gaww did originawwy mean "a Gauw", i.e. an inhabitant of Gauw, but its meaning was water widened to "foreigner", to describe de Vikings, and water stiww de Normans.[14] The dichotomic words gaew and gaww are sometimes used togeder for contrast, for instance in de 12f-century book Cogad Gáedew re Gawwaib.

As adjectives, Engwish has de two variants: Gauwish and Gawwic. The two adjectives are used synonymouswy, as "pertaining to Gauw or de Gauws", awdough de Cewtic wanguage or wanguages spoken in Gauw is predominantwy known as Gauwish.

The earwy history of de Gauws is predominantwy a work in archaeowogy—dere being wittwe written information (save perhaps what can be gweaned from coins) concerning de peopwes dat inhabited dese regions—and de rewationships between deir materiaw cuwture, genetic rewationships (de study of which has been aided, in recent years, drough de fiewd of archaeogenetics) and winguistic divisions rarewy coincide.

Before de rapid spread of de La Tène cuwture in de 5f to 4f centuries BC, de territory of eastern and soudern France awready participated in de Late Bronze AgeUrnfiewd cuwture (c. 12f to 8f centuries BC.) out of which de earwy iron-workingHawwstatt cuwture (7f to 6f centuries BC) wouwd devewop. By 500 BC, dere is strong Hawwstatt infwuence droughout most of France (except for de Awps and de extreme norf-west).

In de 4f and earwy 3rd century BC, Gawwic cwan confederations expanded far beyond de territory of what wouwd become Roman Gauw (which defines usage of de term "Gauw" today), into Pannonia, Iwwyria, nordern Itawy, Transywvania and even Asia Minor. By de 2nd century BC, de Romans described Gawwia Transawpina as distinct from Gawwia Cisawpina. In his Gawwic Wars, Juwius Caesar distinguishes among dree ednic groups in Gauw: de Bewgae in de norf (roughwy between Rhine and Seine), de Cewtae in de center and in Armorica, and de Aqwitani in de soudwest, de soudeast being awready cowonized by de Romans. Whiwe some schowars bewieve de Bewgae souf of de Somme were a mixture of Cewtic and Germanic ewements, deir ednic affiwiations have not been definitivewy resowved. One of de reasons is powiticaw interference upon de French historicaw interpretation during de 19f century.

In addition to de Gauws, dere were oder peopwes wiving in Gauw, such as de Greeks and Phoenicians who had estabwished outposts such as Massiwia (present-day Marseiwwe) awong de Mediterranean coast.[16] Awso, awong de soudeastern Mediterranean coast, de Ligures had merged wif de Cewts to form a Cewto-Ligurian cuwture.

In de 2nd century BC, Mediterranean Gauw had an extensive urban fabric and was prosperous, whiwe de best known cities in nordern Gauw incwude de Biturigian capitaw of Avaricum (Bourges), Cenabum (Orwéans), Autricum (Chartres) and de excavated site of Bibracte near Autun in Saône-et-Loire, awong wif a number of hiwwforts (or oppida) used in times of war. The prosperity of Mediterranean Gauw encouraged Rome to respond to pweas for assistance from de inhabitants of Massiwia, who were under attack by a coawition of Ligures and Gauws.[17] The Romans intervened in Gauw in 154 BC and again in 125 BC.[17] Whereas on de first occasion dey came and went, on de second dey stayed.[18] In 122 BC Domitius Ahenobarbus managed to defeat de Awwobroges (who were awwied to de Sawwuvii), whiwe in de ensuing year Quintus Fabius Maximus "destroyed" an army of de Averni wed by deir king Bituitus, who had come to de aid of de Awwobroges.[18] Massiwia was awwowed to keep its wands, but Rome added to its territories de wands of de conqwered tribes.[18] The direct resuwt of dese conqwests was dat by now, Rome controwwed an area extending from de Pyrenees to de wower Rhône river, and in de east up to de Rhône Vawwey to Lake Geneva.[18] By 121 BC, dey had conqwered de Mediterranean region cawwed Provincia (water named Gawwia Narbonensis). This conqwest upset de ascendancy of de Gauwish Arverni peopwes.

The Roman proconsuw and generaw Juwius Caesar pushed his army into Gauw in 58 BC, on de pretext of assisting Rome's Gauwwish awwies against de migrating Hewvetii. Wif de hewp of various Gawwic cwans (e.g. de Aedui) he managed to conqwer nearwy aww of Gauw. Whiwe miwitariwy just as strong as de Romans, de internaw division between de Gawwic tribes guaranteed an easy victory for Caesar, and Vercingetorix's attempt to unite de Gauws against Roman invasion came too wate.[19][20] Juwius Caesar was checked by Vercingetorix at a siege of Gergovia, a fortified town in de center of Gauw. Caesar's awwiances wif many Gawwic cwans broke. Even de Aedui, deir most faidfuw supporters, drew in deir wot wif de Arverni, but de ever-woyaw Remi (best known for its cavawry) and Lingones sent troops to support Caesar. The Germani of de Ubii awso sent cavawry, which Caesar eqwipped wif Remi horses. Caesar captured Vercingetorix in de Battwe of Awesia, which ended de majority of Gawwic resistance to Rome.

As many as a miwwion peopwe (probabwy 1 in 5 of de Gauws) died, anoder miwwion were enswaved,[21] 300 cwans were subjugated and 800 cities were destroyed during de Gawwic Wars.[22] The entire popuwation of de city of Avaricum (Bourges) (40,000 in aww) were swaughtered.[23] Before Juwius Caesar's campaign against de Hewvetii (present-day Switzerwand), de Hewvetians had numbered 263,000, but afterwards onwy 100,000 remained, most of whom Caesar took as swaves.[24]

The Gauwish cuwture den was massivewy submerged by Roman cuwture, and Latin was adopted by de Gauws; Gauw, or Gawwia, was absorbed into de Roman Empire, aww de administration changed, and Gauws eventuawwy became Roman citizens.[25] From de dird to 5f centuries, Gauw was exposed to raids by de Franks. The Gawwic Empire, consisting of de provinces of Gauw, Britannia, and Hispania, incwuding de peacefuw Baetica in de souf, broke away from Rome from 260 to 273.

Fowwowing de Frankish victory at de Battwe of Soissons in 486 AD, Gauw (except for Septimania) came under de ruwe of de Merovingians, de first kings of France. Gawwo-Roman cuwture, de Romanized cuwture of Gauw under de ruwe of de Roman Empire, persisted particuwarwy in de areas of Gawwia Narbonensis dat devewoped into Occitania, Gawwia Cisawpina and to a wesser degree, Aqwitania. The formerwy Romanized norf of Gauw, once it had been occupied by de Franks, wouwd devewop into Merovingian cuwture instead. Roman wife, centered on de pubwic events and cuwturaw responsibiwities of urban wife in de res pubwica and de sometimes wuxurious wife of de sewf-sufficient ruraw viwwa system, took wonger to cowwapse in de Gawwo-Roman regions, where de Visigods wargewy inherited de status qwo in de earwy 5f century. Gawwo-Roman wanguage persisted in de nordeast into de Siwva Carbonaria dat formed an effective cuwturaw barrier, wif de Franks to de norf and east, and in de nordwest to de wower vawwey of de Loire, where Gawwo-Roman cuwture interfaced wif Frankish cuwture in a city wike Tours and in de person of dat Gawwo-Roman bishop confronted wif Merovingian royaws, Gregory of Tours.

The Druids were not de onwy powiticaw force in Gauw, however, and de earwy powiticaw system was compwex, if uwtimatewy fataw to de society as a whowe. The fundamentaw unit of Gawwic powitics was de cwan, which itsewf consisted of one or more of what Caesar cawwed pagi. Each cwan had a counciw of ewders, and initiawwy a king. Later, de executive was an annuawwy-ewected magistrate. Among de Aedui, a cwan of Gauw, de executive hewd de titwe of Vergobret, a position much wike a king, but his powers were hewd in check by ruwes waid down by de counciw.

The regionaw ednic groups, or pagi as de Romans cawwed dem (singuwar: pagus; de French word pays, "region" [a more accurate transwation is 'country'], comes from dis term), were organized into warger muwti-cwan groups de Romans cawwed civitates. These administrative groupings wouwd be taken over by de Romans in deir system of wocaw controw, and dese civitates wouwd awso be de basis of France's eventuaw division into eccwesiasticaw bishoprics and dioceses, which wouwd remain in pwace—wif swight changes—untiw de French Revowution.

Awdough de individuaw cwans were moderatewy stabwe powiticaw entities, Gauw as a whowe tended to be powiticawwy divided, dere being virtuawwy no unity among de various cwans. Onwy during particuwarwy trying times, such as de invasion of Caesar, couwd de Gauws unite under a singwe weader wike Vercingetorix. Even den, however, de faction wines were cwear.

The Romans divided Gauw broadwy into Provincia (de conqwered area around de Mediterranean), and de nordern Gawwia Comata ("free Gauw" or "wong haired Gauw"). Caesar divided de peopwe of Gawwia Comata into dree broad groups: de Aqwitani; Gawwi (who in deir own wanguage were cawwed Cewtae); and Bewgae. In de modern sense, Gauwish peopwes are defined winguisticawwy, as speakers of diawects of de Gauwish wanguage. Whiwe de Aqwitani were probabwy Vascons, de Bewgae wouwd dus probabwy be a mixture of Cewtic and Germanic ewements.

Aww Gauw is divided into dree parts, one of which de Bewgae inhabit, de Aqwitani anoder, dose who in deir own wanguage are cawwed Cewts, in ours Gauws, de dird. Aww dese differ from each oder in wanguage, customs and waws. The Bewgae are de bravest, because dey are furdest from de civiwization and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants weast freqwentwy resort to dem, and import dose dings which tend to effeminate de mind; and dey are de nearest to de Germans, who dweww beyond de Rhine, wif whom dey are continuawwy waging war; for which reason de Hewvetii awso surpass de rest of de Gauws in vawor, as dey contend wif de Germans in awmost daiwy battwes, when dey eider repew dem from deir own territories, or demsewves wage war on deir frontiers. One part of dese, which it has been said dat de Gauws occupy, takes its beginning at de river Rhone; it is bounded by de river Garonne, de ocean, and de territories of de Bewgae; it borders, Garonne separates de Gauws from de Aqwitani; de Marne and de Seine separate dem from de Bewgae. Of aww dese, de Bewgae too, on de side of de Seqwani and de Hewvetii, upon de river Rhine, and stretches toward de norf. The Bewgae rises from de extreme frontier of Gauw, extend to de wower part of de river Rhine; and wook toward de norf and de rising sun, uh-hah-hah-hah. Aqwitania extends from de river Garonne to de Pyrenaean mountains and to dat part of de ocean which is near Spain: it wooks between de setting of de sun, and de norf star.[26]

The Gauws practiced a form of animism, ascribing human characteristics to wakes, streams, mountains, and oder naturaw features and granting dem a qwasi-divine status. Awso, worship of animaws was not uncommon; de animaw most sacred to de Gauws was de boar[27] which can be found on many Gawwic miwitary standards, much wike de Roman eagwe.

Their system of gods and goddesses was woose, dere being certain deities which virtuawwy every Gawwic person worshipped, as weww as cwan and househowd gods. Many of de major gods were rewated to Greek gods; de primary god worshipped at de time of de arrivaw of Caesar was Teutates, de Gawwic eqwivawent of Mercury. The "ancestor god" of de Gauws was identified by Juwius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bewwo Gawwico wif de Roman god Dis Pater.[28]

Perhaps de most intriguing facet of Gawwic rewigion is de practice of de Druids. The druids presided over human or animaw sacrifices dat were made in wooded groves or crude tempwes. They awso appear to have hewd de responsibiwity for preserving de annuaw agricuwturaw cawendar and instigating seasonaw festivaws which corresponded to key points of de wunar-sowar cawendar. The rewigious practices of druids were syncretic and borrowed from earwier pagan traditions, wif probabwy indo-European roots. Juwius Caesar mentions in his Gawwic Wars dat dose Cewts who wanted to make a cwose study of druidism went to Britain to do so. In a wittwe over a century water, Gnaeus Juwius Agricowa mentions Roman armies attacking a warge druid sanctuary in Angwesey in Wawes. There is no certainty concerning de origin of de druids, but it is cwear dat dey vehementwy guarded de secrets of deir order and hewd sway over de peopwe of Gauw. Indeed, dey cwaimed de right to determine qwestions of war and peace, and dereby hewd an "internationaw" status. In addition, de Druids monitored de rewigion of ordinary Gauws and were in charge of educating de aristocracy. They awso practiced a form of excommunication from de assembwy of worshippers, which in ancient Gauw meant a separation from secuwar society as weww. Thus de Druids were an important part of Gawwic society. The nearwy compwete and mysterious disappearance of de Cewtic wanguage from most of de territoriaw wands of ancient Gauw, wif de exception of Brittany France, can be attributed to de fact dat Cewtic druids refused to awwow de Cewtic oraw witerature or traditionaw wisdom to be committed to de written wetter.[29]

The Cewts practiced headhunting as de head was bewieved to house a person's souw. Ancient Romans and Greeks recorded de Cewts' habits of naiwing heads of personaw enemies to wawws or dangwing dem from de necks of horses.[30]

^"Juwius Caesar: The first triumvirate and de conqwest of Gauw". Encycwopædia Britannica Onwine. Encycwopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 15, 2015. Indeed, de Gawwic cavawry was probabwy superior to de Roman, horseman for horseman, uh-hah-hah-hah. Rome’s miwitary superiority way in its mastery of strategy, tactics, discipwine, and miwitary engineering. In Gauw, Rome awso had de advantage of being abwe to deaw separatewy wif dozens of rewativewy smaww, independent, and uncooperative states. Caesar conqwered dese piecemeaw, and de concerted attempt made by a number of dem in 52 BC to shake off de Roman yoke came too wate.